


the broken beauty of what we choose to do

by handschuhmaus



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Always a Sith!Dooku, Qui-Gon is still a Jedi, everyone here that is or was a Sith is a nerd, untrained Force-sensitive Palpatine, well. Sorta. Within one master-apprentice pair anyway
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 20:21:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16647122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/handschuhmaus/pseuds/handschuhmaus
Summary: Is this corruption? Seduction? Is this conversion? Redemption? Of and by whom?A backwater senator with a very limiting agenda is still a temptation to the Sith in a galaxy where his Force-sensitivity went hitherto undiscovered...Then there's dissatisfied and decidedly imperfect Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn, poking into the possible existence of the Sith, and forbidden friendships outside the order.





	the broken beauty of what we choose to do

**Author's Note:**

> (was gonna call this "I'll just name all the birds in Ohio" (google it), another line from the same song I've heard maybe twice now that I borrowed the title from, only I don't think Ohio is ...existent in the GFFA)

_I think you should know..._ no. That wasn't it. 

_This is to let you know:_ No. 

_Please send info on Senator Palpatine._ Not... useful and probably too obscuring to boot.

 _Plagueis, I think he could be useful._ Generic as hell, (the man was a politician) and so decidedly _not_ useful.

There wasn't really a simple method for notifying your Sith master, and not really enemy, that you had reason to think there was an opportunity to break the Banite Rule of Two. There wasn't a good reason to pursue such an opportunity.

That was why Dooku had not written up her typical report. 

"A glass of wine, countess?" 

"Why? Why are you offering, Fourdee?"

"You seem stressed."

"I do, do I?" Dooku turned forcefully away from the composition screen and surveyed the room they occupied with something like fresh eyes. "I won't go for the wine now, but I will do something besides this report."

* * *

"I--don't mean to inconvenience you, but the Jedi Order has some questions." Qui-Gon Jinn felt every awkwardness they had ever been accused of in walking the narrow stacks and approaching a study table.

"What about?" Palpatine was known for having a biting wit at times, and disturbing him in the Ffrygeian University Library seemed like an inopportune occasion, and yet it was the only possibility.

"We have reason to suspect there has been some sort of Sith activity on Serreno."

"And you believe that my meeting and visiting with Countess Dooku makes me suspect? Or do you think I should gather intelligence for the Order?" But the rebuke was gentle and Qui-Gon could not help liking the man on this first close meeting.

"Well--really I think the question is whether you noticed anything suspicious." They hedged.

"Suspicious in a supernatural way, in your Force? Or politically suspicious? I will admit, I like the Countess, but I reserve judgement of her motives. Still, I was not privy to anything that makes me think she is associating with Sith. And that is about the extent of my impressions of people on Serreno."

Well. That did not remove Palpatine from the watchlist, but it didn't _sound_ as if he was involved, or likely to be happy in cooperating through further probably fruitless questions."Thank you," Qui-Gon said simply.

"Good day to you, Knight Jinn," he said, turning back to his reading material.

* * *

Dooku burnt off some of the... was it nervous energy? in a sword training drill, only to discover as soon as she exited the salle that Plagueis had beat her to the punch, sending along a text communique which was headed with a paragraph forbidding further communication in the next week: he was at an IGBC retreat and Hego Damask was not to be disturbed.

The second paragraph, though... _To my view, you should proceed directly to seduction. I believe he will prove a malleable but_ "imbegratimpre"? Not a existent word, from which the Countess deduced Plagueis was probably in a hurry at the time of composition and had run into difficulties with the spelling correcting dictation system he used with semi confidential correspondence. She decided he probably meant something like "stable", as in not prone to Jedi nonsense. _\--tool in our political activities._

It grated that she would not have the ability to demand answers any time soon about the ultimate intent of such activities, or question Damask's matchmaking notions, but it couldn't be helped. In any case, Palpatine had gone back to Coruscant and his soonest possible return was a fortnight away. Whether that or the IGBC retreat would be longer remained to be seen.

* * *

**A few days later**

Qui-Gon Jinn did not make a good spy, was not supposed to be spying. But it was another Jedi. And Palpatine.

Per reports, Knight Kim had been acting oddly of late. All was uneasy, even if the Sith suspicions were supposed to be a confidential and strictly internal matter, and unusual activity made him suspicious.

So Qui-Gon was concealed behind a decorative pillar in a restaurant, straining for the beginnings of conversation...

**Author's Note:**

> The Fool - Qui-Gon Jinn  
> The Magician - Hego Damask  
> The High Priestess - Dooku  
> The Empress - Shmi Skywalker  
> The Emperor - Nute Gunray  
> The Hierophant - Yoda  
> The Hermit - Palpatine


End file.
